GUEST VIEW: Community support made Premier the biggest yet

Opinion

Discussion

February 5, 2013

GUEST VIEW: Community support made Premier the biggest yet

By Anu and Dr. Komal Chandan Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Tue Feb 05, 2013, 02:42 AM EST

Niagara Gazette — Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center has been a vital part of our community for almost 120 years. And the Buffalo/Niagara region demonstrated its ongoing support for us in a big way when more than 900 people attended the hospital’s sold out fundraising event — The Premier — on Jan. 19.

The black tie dinner and entertainment gala returned for its ninth year to the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel for a five-star evening of food and fun. Latin rhythms and tropical treats created a festive atmosphere of magic, mystery and music including a riveting performance by Grammy Award winning entertainer Jon Secada, thanks to the generous support of headline sponsor Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel.

The Wendell Rivera Jazz Quartet provided great dinner music. Baila Salsa Dance Co. not only entertained but gave dance lessons and Soul Committee kept everyone dancing well past midnight.

As chairpersons of The Premier 2013, we were excited to see so many people have such a wonderful time for such a worthy cause. It was the biggest Premier ever and the funds raised this year bring the total raised from this annual gala to more than $1 million to support innovative health care and cutting edge technology at Memorial. This year’s proceeds will benefit Memorial’s cardiac and stroke care programs.

A first-class event does not happen by accident. We are grateful to every one of our more than 80 corporate and individual sponsors for their generous support. As always, Seneca Nation of Indians President Barry Snyder and Seneca Gaming Corporation Chairman Robert Mele were the perfect hosts. Their staff, led by President and CEO Cathy Walker, Senior Vice President of Marketing Jim Wise, Executive Director of Entertainment Kevin Wiech, Director of Catering Karen Nordaby and Executive Chef Gary McHale, was just outstanding.

We also are grateful to Dr. Rick and Anne Sawicki, who chaired this year’s Premier silent auction, to the generous donors of distinctive auction items, to Principal Robert DiFrancesco and the student volunteers from Niagara Catholic Jr./Sr. High School, and to our many community volunteers – all of whose efforts were so important to the event’s success.

Thank you all for your hard work!

We were honored to pay tribute at The Premier to Michael W. Cropp, M.D., M.B.A., the president and chief executive officer at Independent Health, and to the nursing staffs at Memorial Medical Center and the Schoellkopf Health Center. The passion they all demonstrate for quality, excellence and innovation in health care have contributed greatly to improving the health status of our region.

We would also like to thank WGRZ Channel 2 television anchor and reporter Maryalice Demler for again favoring us with an outstanding effort as The Premier’s mistress of ceremonies.

So many people contributed to the success of this event that we cannot name them all. But from our sponsors to our planning committee to all of our volunteers and attendees – all made the Premier 2013 a special night to remember! Thank you!

Anu and Dr. Komal Chandan, Russell Hurlburt and John Percy, chairpersons of The Premier 2013.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Opinion

GLYNN: 'Bums Park' short walk from falls
Shame on those for allowing a couple of properties within walking distance of the nation's oldest state park to deteriorate to skid row status. There's plenty of blame to share.

May 19, 2013 1 Photo
EDITORIAL: Plan B needed on casino funds The city of Niagara Falls has been facing significant problems for many years.
May 19, 2013
GUEST VIEW: Niagara-Wheatfield school board doing best it can In a recent reader view, a resident brought up numerous points that paint a picture of government deception, bullying and a lack of compassion to those on fixed income by the Niagara-Wheatfield Board of Education. I can without equivocation say that his views are the furthest from reality.
May 19, 2013
LETTERS FROM THE ISLAND: The 'write' way to do things In memory of the late grammarian and linguist J.J. Kilpatrick, Doug presents his quarterly roundup of sentence-structure demolition, as effected by people who oughta' know better. English finals soon? Pay attention:
May 18, 2013 1 Photo
GUEST VIEW: Breaking down the Lew-Port budget vote Einstein once said he did not understand our tax system; well, I fear, most of us do not either. I want to share a few facts about your school district and taxes.
May 18, 2013
HAMILTON: Falls 'dumbs down' school board petitions I guess that, after 20 or more years, if you cannot teach your own favorite board members how to do something as simple as getting 100 of their own friends and neighbors to properly sign their petitions, then the next best thing to do is to dumb down those petitions.
May 17, 2013 1 Photo
EDITORIAL: Seizure of AP phone records insult to independent press Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
May 17, 2013
GLYNN: Cuomo puts a different spin on Albany meetings Like him or not, Gov. Andrew Cuomo can never be criticized for not thinking outside the box.
May 16, 2013 1 Photo
BRADBERRY: Soar like eagles, or scratch like chickens ... easy pickins' Having been born and raised, educated and employed here in my beloved hometown of Niagara Falls and having had the amazing opportunity to travel the world, come back home and serve my community in too many capacities to count, I must admit, I was more than a little excited by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's Monday announcement at Old Fort Niagara that Brand USA will represent and promote our region.
May 15, 2013 1 Photo
DELUCA: New Hospice unit named for special guy I heard that Joe Ruffolo was just 16, working his first job in the hospital kitchen, when he met the man that he honored the other day.
May 15, 2013 1 Photo
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

GUEST VIEW: Community support made Premier the biggest yet

Site Map

Contact Us